Flaming Gnome Studios
Flaming Gnome Studios is an independent film company based out of Owatonna, Minnesota and Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is best known for the short film series Vail, ''the short film ''The Elixir of Doom, ''and the award-winning feature film ''The Root of Evil. '' History 2006: Prehistory The name "Flaming Gnome Studios" was first coined in 2006 by Ryan Huang and Jordan Johnson during their fifth grade year at St. Mary's School in Owatonna. The duo produced multiple comic strips in their math notebooks during class, signing each strip ''"by the Flaming Gnomes." ''Current director Ryan Huang describes the subject matter of these comics: "As I recall, the story centered around a nameless hero who navigated through a side-scrolling environment filled with monsters and deadly traps. It was all quite frivolous." No comics from this era are known to survive, as most were confiscated by teachers and/or lost over the years. 2009: Golden Age of Comics After a 4 year hiatus, the studio resumed production of comics. The work environment was new--comics were produced in the German 1 classroom of Owatonna High School. Again, the principle writers and illustrators were Huang and Johnson, along with D.J. Chatelaine and Don Zheng serving as a small consulting team. A more extensive and detailed plot had been formed. The comic had two primary protagonists: Captain Combover, a suave and skilled agent/superhero and his partner, Furm. The basic premise of the series centered around the duo thwarting the plots of Don, the communist antagonist. All three characters directly portrayed Huang, Johnson, and Zheng, respectively. Although production had been greatly increased during this period (at least 4 episodes were made), only one comic from this series has survived: ''Episode 2: In The Communist Lunchroom. '' Comic-writing operations ceased once again in 2010--this time for good. Collaboration between Huang and Johnson drew to a close along with the end of 1st semester. Huang was now solely left in charge of Flaming Gnome Studios, and would continue to see the company through its venture into the fillmmaking industry. 2010-2011: Entry into filmmaking The earliest recorded instance of any moviemaking involving Flaming Gnome Studios was in the winter of 2010. This film, ''Gettysburg, was in fact a school project directed and produced by D.J. Chatelaine's own film company. Huang appeared as various characters in the ensemble cast consisting of Chatelaine, Eric Schlicker, and Nash Dushek. The documentary, along with its raw footage, remains in the collection of D.J. Chatelaine Movie Company. Upon the acquisition of iMovie, the studio's first filmmaking software, Huang filmed a short trailer that would propel the company into the industry. The short film starred Huang, Braden Stork, and Pranshu Parmar as three unnamed agents wreaking havoc in an enemy base. The movie was filmed on location at Owatonna High School and edited in Taipei, Taiwan by Huang later that year. Initially titled Captain Ryan's Crew, ''it was revised as ''Men With Guns ''shortly afterwards. In the early summer of 2011, Huang began work on a full-length script featuring the characters from the trailer. This was to be the largest and most ambitious project in Flaming Gnome history to date, with a cast consisting of Huang, Stork, Parmar, Zheng, Chatelaine, and Preston Smith. The first filming sessions were less than organized, as Huang describes: "For the first few days we had no script whatsoever, and made do with ad-libbing the entire thing." The result was a series of takes that were dramatically different, and Huang decided to scrap all of them. (These clips, previously thought to be lost, have been recovered and re-released by the studio.) Later that summer, the first scenes from the script had finally been finished. Full costume was used for the first time in studio history, along with weapon props and sound effects. Again, filming did not go as planned and production ground to a halt. The final blow occured when Stork moved away to Rochester, Minnesota, making it impossible to continue any further. Very few clips from this footage survive, with the rest of the raw footage lost in cyberspace. The project was abandoned, but a new and even more ambitious series would soon take its place. 2011: the ''Vail ''series Huang recalls, "I believe the first inspiration [for ''Vail] was Viktor Boroshlav's accent, which had been ever-present in my household as a running joke. The second inspiration came from my role in Once In A Lifetime, my first high school play." Vail: Episode 1 ''was written and shot by Huang in the summer of 2011. The latter assumed every single position in the filmmaking process--director, writer, cinematographer, cameraman, editor, and all three roles in the cast. The movie debuted two iconic characters: Captain Levi Vail and Viktor Boroshlav. Episode 1 was initially intended by to be a one-off film, ending with the death of Boroshlav (at that time the principle antagonist). Upon receiving positive audience feedback regarding Boroshlav, Huang changed his mind and set out to continue the series with Boroshlav as a main protagonist. ''Vail: Episode 2 ''was filmed and premiered shortly after its predecessor that same year. Numerous short films starring the main characters were also filmed during this time, spurring two spinoffs: ''Birthday E-cards From Vail and Boroshlav ''and the ''Ambush: Boroshlav ''series. 2012: ''The Elixir of Doom The studio temporarily put the Vail ''series on hold in early 2012, after scheduling complications prevented ''Episode 3 ''from being filmed. However, after viewing the 2011 silent movie ''The Artist, Huang was inspired to begin a new series--this time involving a much larger cast and crew. The film was to pay homage to The Artist, ''as well as Edgar Allan Poe's short story ''The Cask of Amontillado. ''The script was written in the first week of July of 2012, and filming was finished one week later. New and old faces had been added to the Flaming Gnome Studio roster. Joshua Dub and Maureen Gleason accepted lead roles as Jean Montresor and Emmanuelle Chanson, respectively. D.J. Chatelaine rejoined the company in the role of Emile De Grave. The days of a one-man crew were over--Miles and Michael Mulet were invited to handle cinematography for the filming. Huang himself starred as Viktor Boroshlav once again (in the first ever cross over between series in the studio's history), and also directed and edited the 25-minute film. Shortly after the August premiere of ''Elixir, Huang announced a sequel (titled The Root of Evil) with a target release date of Fall 2013. 2012-2014: The Root of Evil Production of the sequel to The Elixir of Doom ''began in August 2012, with Huang making multiple screenplay drafts overseas. Shortly thereafter, Huang announced on Facebook that the sequel was to be a feature length film entitled ''The Root of Evil. ''Principle shooting commenced in December 2012. Taking place a few years after the events of ''Elixir, ''the plot centers around Viktor Boroshlav and Emmanuelle Chanson pursuing Alfred Kensington, a disgraced doctor set on eliminating his former colleagues and reinventing his public image. Assisting Boroshlav and Chanson is a now rehabillitated Montresor. Progress is suddenly complicated by the appearance of Kensington's American gangster allies, as well as the mysterious Agent Zoltan, Chanson's former love interest. The cast of ''The Root of Evil ''quickly ballooned to over 60 main actors, supporting actors, and extras. Principle filming was completed at an irregular pace due to the number of personal schedules involved. Production and post-production finally concluded at the end of May 2014, and the film was screened for cast and family members in early June of that year. Since July 2014, ''The Root of Evil ''has received a total of eleven official selection laurels and ten awards from festivals such as the Colorado Film Festival, the Indie Fest, and the Accolade Global Film Competition. The film had its West Coast Premiere at the 2014 Catalina Film Festival, where it took home the Award for Best Student Film. ''The Root of Evil ''recieved an Honorable Mention at the ITSA Film Festival in California, as well as the Gold Award at the Fort Lauderdale International High School Competition. It brought home the Golden Coyote Paw for Best Student Film - Under 18 at the 2015 Idyllwild International Festival of Cinema. Future: Fall of 2014 and beyond During the summer of 2014, a new short film was written by Ryan Huang and Maureen Gleason. The film was to star Huang and Gleason in leading roles. When asked for comment regarding the premise of the new film, Huang stated: "It will definitely be something new for the studio: a short slice-of-life taking place in the present day with ordinary people. We're planning to work with a skeleton crew comprised of Pranshu Parmar, Matt Reinhard, and Eric Schlicker. Cast will be minimal." Due to scheduling conflicts, the project was shelved in August. It is unknown as to when (if ever) production will take place. A new short film to be shot on location at the University of Minnesota (Twin Cities) campus is currently in the pre-production stage. Huang describes the short as a forensic crime thriller that takes place in academia. In November 2014, director Ryan Huang hinted at a possible sequel to ''The Root of Evil, ''with as many original cast members reprising their roles as possible. Currently, the project is under "very tentative" pre-production. In December 2014, it was announced that production of a short biopic starring Ella Rasp had begun. The target release date is late Spring or early Summer in 2015. Studio Library ''*note: only projects that are currently accounted for and within studio vaults are listed. This section may be updated as new works are discovered. Comics *''In The Communist Lunchroom'' (2009) Documentaries *''Gettysburg (2009) Short Films *''Men with Guns: Mission 1 ''(2011) *''Men With Guns ''(2011) - scrapped *''Vail-- Episode 1: Forgotten Names ''(2011) *''Birthday E-cards from Vail and Boroshlav ''(2011) *''Vail-- Episode 2: The Crimes of Yesteryear ''(2011) *''Vail-- Episode 2.5: Ambush at Portofino ''(2011) *''Ambush: Boroshlav (Ambush at Huntington Harbor) ''(2012) *The Elixir of Doom'' (2012) * The Root of Evil ''(2014) - short film version Feature Films *The Root of Evil (2014) Miscellanious *''Captain Ryan's Crew - ''trailer (2010) *''Vail: The Special Interviews ''(2011) *''Men With Guns: Secret Footage ''(2012) Personnel Past *'Jordan Johnson (2006-2009) comic writer/illustrator *Don Zheng (2009-2011) comic consultant, cast *'Braden Stork (2011) '''cast *'Preston Smith (2011) '''camera operator *D.J. Chatelaine (2010-2014) cast *Joshua Dub (2012-2014) cast *Thomas Donlon (2013-2014) cast *Jackson Anderson (2014) cast *Albert Rysavy (2013-2014) cast *Luke Owens (2013-2014) cast *Jacob Hellevik (2013-2014) cast *Jillian Stout (2013-2014) cast *Joseph Nelson (2013-2014) cast *Haaken Bungum (2013-2014) cast * 'Eric Schlicker (2013-2014) c'ast *'Logan Johnson (2013-2014) '''cast *'Quinn Reinhard (2014) 'cast * '''Matt Reinhard (2014) '''cast *'Ethan Pick (2014) 'cast *'Thomas Borgerding (2014) 'cast *'Josh Weisenburger (2013-2014) '''cast Current *Ryan Huang (2006-present) President, Director, Director of Photography, Writer, Cast, Editor *Maureen Gleason (2012-present) Cast, First Assistant Director *Pranshu Parmar (2010-2011, 2013-present) 'Second Assistant Director, Camera Operator, Cast *'Miles Mulet (2012-present) 'cameraman, cinematographer, cast, visual artist *'Michael Mulet (2012-present) 'cameraman, cinematographer, visual artist *'Miguel Mulet (2012-present) 'cameraman, cinematographer, visual artist, technical advisor *'Al & Lydia Huang (2012-present) '''producers Trailers